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If I a Gun and Two Bullets...

This line from The Office (U.S. version) cracks me up every time.

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Jeremy Brett - Bio Notes

Jeremy Brett's performance as Sherlock Holmes generated a worldwide fan base for Brett. Jeremy Brett (born Peter Jeremy William Huggins) died in 1995 of heart failure related to a childhood case of rheumatic fever (and smoking). Some say he died from prolonged grief after the death of his second wife in 1985. In The New York Times obituary, Mel Gussow wrote: "Mr. Brett was regarded as the quintessential Holmes: breathtakingly analytical, given to outrageous disguises and the blackest moods and relentless in his enthusiasm for solving the most intricate crimes." Below are a few more details found on Wikipedia about Jeremy Brett's life and death...

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Pastor Jeremiah Wright - In Context


Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright

Pastor Jeremiah Wright - In Context - With all the controversy about Pastor Jeremiah Wright's words, I wanted to get a bit closer to the context. I concluded that the news hysteria is misguided. In context, the sound-bites make perfect sense and don't justify the inflammatory response generated by the out-of-context sound-bites repeated ad-nauseum by our shameful media.

When we adopt the opinions of the media, accepting as proof a sound-bite, we risk being mislead. We risk public opinion being corralled by a minority with an agenda. Again, we've been fooled.


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Mad About You - Theme Song Lyrics

Mad About You is one of my favorite TV series. Here are the lyrics to that catching theme song, which I think is titled The Final Frontier.

The Final Frontier

Tell me why
I love you like I do,
Tell me who
can stop my heart
as much as you,
Tell me all your secrets, and I'll
tell you most of mine,

They say nobody's perfect,
well, thats really true this time
I don't have the answers,
I don't have a plan
All I have is you,
So darling, help me understand

(What we do) - you can whisper in my ear
(Where we go) - who knows what happens after here
Let's take each other's hand as we jump
in to the Final Frontier
I'm mad about you baby,
Mad About You...

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Where Does the Money Go? - Moyers Interview with Bittle & Johnson

Where Does the Money Go? - In their book Where Does the Money Go - Your Guided Tour to the Federal Budget Crisis, Scott Bittle & Jean Johnson explain in understandable terms where the U.S. government spends YOUR tax dollars.

In an interview with Bill Moyers, Bittle and Jean reveal that the U.S. Government has spent more money than it received in taxes for 31 of the last 35 years. Meaning, that in good times and bad, the U.S. Government is spending more than it brings in. No company, no household, no government can spend more than it receives without consequences. Companies and households go bankrupt (or get a government bail out). The government simply borrows and prints more money, which eventually leads to a financial crisis (inflation, currency collapse, etc.)

Some think the spending problem would be solved if we left IRAQ. Not so....

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Closed Caption Missing on HD Channels - Solution Found!

Caption Missing on HD Channels - After installing Comcast cable box, we lost the closed captioning for HD TV channels.

The HD problem - Caption controls exist on two separate menus:

  1. one for the TV
  2. one for the cable box

To display captions for HD channels, you need to enable captioning through the cable box's caption menu. The TV's caption menu will NOT enable captions for HD TV channels.

The hard part is figuring out how to access the cable box's caption menu. Here's how we accessed the cable box's caption menu and restored the captioning for ALL channels, HD and non-HD.

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The Wieners Circle - This American Life - Ira Glass

"Welcome to the Wieners Circle--Can I take your order, BIT@%!"

What would happen if you felt free to say whatever foul thing you wanted? At The Wieners Circle in Chicago, you can almost get that experience.

The Wieners Circle is a hot dog stand in Chicago that caters to an inebriated, late-night clientele. This special population can turn quite verbally aggressive, and some 15 years ago, owner Larry Gold got fed up. He told his employees:

"Whatever they dish out, we have to dish out back to them."

And so they did.

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Earth Conservation Corps - Making a Difference in DC

Earth Conservation Corp - Watched an inspiring story on Bill Moyer's NOW program about the Earth Conservation Corps in Washington D.C. The story has been covered by a lot of news outlets, including 60-Minutes' Bill Bradley. The Earth Conservation Corps is a non-profit on a mission to save both a polluted D.C. river and the disadvantaged teens that live in a violent D.C. neighborhood.

I was weeping by the end. Diamond Teague's death. The fate of others, especially Darius and Jerome, just hit me at my core. Some of the lives of these teens were cut short, which is especially tragic and unfair given the changes their participation in the Earth Conservation Corps started. But those that survive often change the direction of their lives in huge ways. And, perhaps even more important, their success inspires others to do the same.

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Buying the War - by Bill Moyers


Bill MoyersHow did the mainstream press get it so wrong? How did the evidence disputing the existence of weapons of mass destruction and the link between Saddam Hussein to 9-11 continue to go largely unreported?

~Bill Moyers

Buying the War by Bill Moyers is a fascinating report of how mass media was co-oped by the Bush administration to hammer home Bush's talking points: Iraq has WMDs, and Hussein was involved with 911. It's a devastating account of the media betraying their responsibility.


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Who is Anya Major? - Truth About Apple's 1984 Commercial


Anya Major

Anya Major Apple 1984 Commercial - Remember Apple Macintosh's 1984 Super Bowl commercial, the one with the gorgeous, sledgehammer-hurling woman dressed in red track shorts and white tank-top? The 60-second piece, which aired as a commercial only once, basically launched Apple's Macintosh computer.

Yes, but....


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MythBusters Show Lost Experiments - Kari Byron Bonus


MythBuster Kari Byron

I absolutely LOVE the Discovery Channel's MythBusters show. I get such vicarious pleasure out of watching Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman abuse each other (and their staff) in figuring out inventive ways to test both well-known and "lost" myths. Speaking of lost myths, Discovery Channel has released some clips of MythBuster's Lost Experiments.

Here's a summary of each experiment or clip, which should help you decide which clips are worth watching...

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Planet Earth Discovery Series

Planet Earth Discover Channel/BBC Series - Started watching this Discovery Channel / BBC series Planet Earth. Epic. Lives up to its billing as a landmark series. Sigorney Weaver narrates this specacular documentary of just a sample of the amazing animals in specific habitats, such as high desserts or ocean depths. Each frame is a photograph. Most scenes leave you wondering how the film crews found and filmed the scene. Excellent use of slow motion footage. Lots of overhead helicopter camera work. Rock steady. Amazing footage of rare, rare, rare snow leopard. Beautiful light and/or filtering and processing so the colors, hues are wonderful and nothing is bleached out. Top notch. Outstanding. A series Discover Channel has to be proud of.

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Russell Crowe's Eulogy for Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter


Russell Crowe's Eulogy for Steve Irwin

Russell Crowe Eulogy Steve Irwin - When I heard that Steve Irwin, the Crododile Hunter, had been killed by a sting-ray, I was shocked and saddened. As news coverage of his death swelled, I was somehow comforted to learn that so many others felt the same....Who knew this wacky, passionate Aussie had such an impact on so many people?

Russell Crowe, a good mate of Irwin's, gave such a touching eulogy at the memorial service for Steve Irwin, a service that was televised around the world. I've transcribed Russell's words below. Truly moving. Here is the video...

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Scrubs Cast Performs Charlie Brown Christmas

Scrubs Charlie Brown Christmas - For a Scrubs obsessed nut like myself, this was a blessed find...

(:youtube 20Of_mna-Rs:)

Scrubs Cast Performs Charlie Brown Christmas - Brilliant!

Rumor has it this was done for a Scrubs Christmas party. Voices clearly come from the real Scrubs cast. Totally hilarious!

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Video: Johann Lippowitz Mimes Natalie Imbruglia's Torn

David Armand as "Johann Lippowitz" Mimes Natalie Imbruglia's Torn - Here's a fascinating and funny video performance of Torn by Natalie Imbruglia with mime/sign language assistance from David Armand (Johann Lippowitz). I was very impressed with how Natalie and Johann integrated their talents. Armand's Lippowitz character could have easily stolen the show, but Natalie managed to "get into the act." Excellent.

(:youtube 4TM3GbxaNLI:)

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Scrubs TV Series Trivia

In my best Dr. Cox voice: "I love, LOVE, L-O-V-E the NBC television series Scrubs." For network TV, it's brilliant. Not Arrested Development brilliant (or Scrubs would have been canceled by now), but still...

Scrubs is this odd blending of comedy and sentimentality. In my mind, medical shows like Scrubs, Grey's Anatomy, E.R., St. Elsewhere (1980s TV) and the like are all derived from the Samuel Shem book, The House of God. The House of God is a fast pace, cynical view of medical training that bombs all the Marcus Welby M.D. illusions our culture used to carry about the medical profession.

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Barry Kibrick Goes Between the Lines


Barry Kibrick

Between the Lines - Accidentally discovered this marvelous interview program when I stumble on Barry Kibrick's interview with photographer Robert Zuckerman. I wanted to hear more of Kibrick's interviews and found a Between the Lines archive list that includes links to interviews with Ridley Scott and Stephen Shapiro (Goal Free Living). I gotta check these out.

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Kindsight® - By Robert Zuckerman


Photo by Robert Zuckerman

Start Before You Are Ready
~ Robert Zuckerman

Kindsight®: Images and Words From the Flow - Serendipity. I woke up early on a Saturday morning and flipped the TV on to a Barry Kibrick interview with photographer Robert Zuckerman. Zuckerman has compiled a collection of photographs and quotes for a book called Kindsight®: Images and Words From the Flow. In his day job, Zuckerman is a well respected still photographer for the movie industry. He does portraits, movie poster images, and set photographs. This book contained none of those images. Instead, Kindsight® showcases photos of everyday people Zuckerman discovered during his not-so-everyday life, informal portraits of real people during moment of kindness.

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What I've Learned by Homer Simpson

What I've Learned: Homer Simpson
Nuclear-power-plant safety inspector, 39, Springfield
Interviewed by John Frink and Don Payne

When someone tells you your butt is on fire, you should take them at their word.

There is no such thing as a bad doughnut.

Kids are like monkeys, only louder.

If you want results, press the red button. The rest are useless.

There are some things that just aren't meant to be eaten.

My favorite color is chocolate.

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Survivorman

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List Of Problems Solved By Mac Gyver


The Wikipedia list of problems solved byMacGyver is growing. Very cool idea. I remember watching this...How many years ago?

Resourcefulness, ingenuity, cleverness...and dumb luck. An encyclopedic mind...on acid? The cleverness of an old-time mechanic/carpenter combined with...Jame Bond? No! Indiana Jones? ....Maybe, kinda-sorta.

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Michael Berg Responds to Zarqawi's Death


Michael Berg

Michael Berg is the father of Nicholas (Nick) Berg, the young businessman who in May of 2004 was captured by terrorists in Iraq and beheaded. The terrorists videotaped the beheading and distributed the tape via their website. News services reported on the contents of the tape, showing the preamble of statements by Berg (and the terrorists?), but stopping short of broadcasting the actual beheading. However, besides the video, a still image of a terrorist holding up Bergs decapitated head has circulated widely on the Net.

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Predicting the Stars - Sasha Pieterse


Sasha Pieterse

Mark my words, Sasha Pieterse is gonna be a star.

Saw her in a second season episode of Fox's medical drama series House. In the episode, simply called Autopsy, the (then) nine year-old actress played a nine year-old terminal cancer patient, and gave a performance well beyond her years. Second time I've seen it, and again was choked up by her portrayal. Powerful stuff.

South African born Sasha Pieterse's talent totally reminds me of the Sixth Sense phenom, Haley Joel Osment. I wonder if she'll be picked up for any heavy roles as Osment was. Doubt there's much to pick from, but if I were a screenwriter, watching her performance would have inspired me to write something just for her. What a talent.

Sasha Pieterse will be a star.

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Curling

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Tucker Carlsons Olympic Overview Show

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Ice Skater Michelle Kwan Withdraws from 2006 Winter Olympics


Michelle Kwan

Michelle Kwan 2006 Olympics - How sad is this, on so many levels? One, for Emily Hughes, who could have been preparing for her Olympic appearance, but now gets pulled into the games as a last minute replacement for Kwan. And for Kwan, jeez! The girl won't be getting her gold, though, to be honest, her chances were slim. She's had such an impact on skating, but it surely hurts in her marrow that she doesn't have an Olympic Gold medal.

Jim Lampley, the NBC Sports anchor, put it this way:

If her contributions to the sport, her ability to face disappointment with perspective and grace counts for anything, then Michelle Kwan is, and always will be, a champion.


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Kari Byron of MythBusters Links


MythBuster Kari Byron

Kari Byron - I was shocked at the traffic generated with my blog post MythBusters Lost Experiments. After a little investigation, I was able to determine most visitors arrived at the post via a Google search of "Kari Byron". Since then, I've learned there is a die-hard following of this perky and very smart red-head. So I assembled this list of links related to Kari Byron. Of course, I have no interest in this wonderful lass born in 1974. I do this as a service to my fellow MythBusters fans...

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Super Bowl 2006

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Timothy Treadwell Grizzly Man


Timothy Treadwell & Grizzly Bear

Timothy Treadwell Grizzly Man - I recently watched a commercial-riddled presentation of Grizzly Man on the Discovery Channel. Aside from the fact commercials interrupted the flow of the film every five minutes at times, this documentary about “grizzly man” Timothy Treadwell remained powerful and intimate.

For 13 summers, Timothy Treadwell communed with Alaskan grizzly bears. During his last five summers, he videotaped his experiences, structuring the footage for a documentary. However, he was not able to finish the project because during his last visit he and his girlfriend were killed and eaten by a grizzly.

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